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A Brief History of Honduras
Honduras is a central American Republic bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, and by the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Pre-Colonial Honduras
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, Honduras was populated mainly by Amerindians of the Mayan civilisation, a culture that was known to practice human sacrifice, albeit only on very special occasions and on a far lesser scale than that of its Aztec rivals.

Spanish Conquest
The Conquistadors, arrived in 1524, and augmented by temporary Tlaxcalan and Mexican native allies, proceeded to conquer most of the area, although the Miskito people resisted fiercely and successfully and were one of the few native peoples of Central and South America that did not succumb to colonial rule. The area known as Honduras was part of the Captaincy-General of Guatemala.
Locals were enslaved by the Spaniards and put to work in the silver mines, and silver mining formed an important part of the economy under Spanish rule.

Independence
Honduras was liberated from Spanish control in 1821 and became part of the Mexican Empire. However, it was made an independent republic in 1838, despite widespread enthusiasm for a federal republic encompassing other neighbouring former Spanish colonies.

Banana Republic
The phrase 'banana republic' was coined by American writer William Sydney Porter, to describe a country ruled by authoritarian governments who subverted the interests of private corporations, usually foreign. The origins of this famous phrase lie in what happened to countries like Honduras in the early part of the 20th Century.

During the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, bananas became a popular consumable foodstuff in Europe and America, and as demand for them rocketed. Companies such as United Fruit, Standard Fruit and Cuyamel Fruit were established and quickly became dominant in the banana trade in Central America.
Samuel Zemurray, founder of the Cuyamel Fruit Company, played a particularly notorious role in the history of Honduras when in 1912; he sponsored a coup installing Manuel Bonilla as dictator of Honduras, who granted land and tax concessions to the company in return for Zemurray's role in supporting his return to power. Cuyamel fruit was eventually merged with United Fruit who continued to play a domineering role in Honduras politics for many years afterwards.

Later History
Honduras and El Salvador had a long history of rivalry and military intervention in each other’s affairs, and in 1969, fought a particularly absurd war triggered by football rivalry during a qualifying round for the 1970 World Cup, the underlying cause of which was a border dispute near the Gulf of Fonseca. The Salvadoran Army successfully occupied the disputed territory, but withdrew after a negotiated ceasefire by the Organisation of American States (OAS). As a result, many Salvadoran immigrants were expelled.
In 1979, after many years of military dictatorship, Honduras was returned to civilian rule. In 1980, a new Constituent Assembly was elected by popular vote and the following year, President Roberto Cordova was elected president, taking power the following year. However, during the 1980s, a heavy American military presence was established to help Honduras support right-wing Contra Guerrillas against the Marxist Nicaraguan Government. A conflict that saw atrocities and human rights abuses on both sides.
In 1998, a catastrophic hurricane destroyed 70% of Honduras' crop output for that year and destroyed much of the country's infrastructure, as well as resulting in the deaths of 5,000 Hondurans and many more injured or rendered homeless. A further disaster in 2008, when floods occurred all around the country and damaged half of the country's roads. Honduras is still recovering from these blows.

Coinage of Honduras
The first coins that circulated in Honduras were those of the Spanish real (or Spanish dollar, worth 8 reales). Following independence, Honduras became part of the Central American Republic, and the Central American Republic real was introduced in 1824. However, following the demise of the Central American Republic, Honduras introduced its own real, with coins of half, 1, 2, 4 and 8 reales. These coins were originally issued in 33.3% silver, but were debased until they were replaced by copper in 1855, by which point the most recent silver issues were only 4% silver. By 1861, the coins were issued in copper-lead.
The real was replaced by the peso in 1862, originally subdivided into reales as the old Spanish currency had been, but the peso was decimalised in 1871 and subdivided into 100 centavos. However, the centavo coin itself was not introduced until 1878, in bronze, supplemented by a 2 centavo and a silver peso in 1881. 5, 10 and 20 pesos, issued in gold, were also introduced during the 1880s.
In 1931, the lempira was introduced, replacing the peso at par (essentially it was a renaming of the peso). Due to inflation, coins below 10 centavos have since been discontinued, and only three denominations are typically struck for circulation, including the 10, 20 and 50 centavos. Coins of the US Dollar are generally accepted in Honduras as is local currency.

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If you are interested in coins from Honduras please see our product index:-
Honduran Coins

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